State health official got $97,000 tuition gift

Other officials received tuition payments, other perks

Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, listens to a question during his testimony to members of the Senate Committee on Education Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2007, in Austin, Texas. Sen. Hinojosa's Senate Bill 7 calls for availability and use of automated external defibrillators at public schools and athletic events. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)

Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, listens to a question during his...

AUSTIN - A well-connected former political aide landed a lucrative job at Texas' sprawling state health commission without having to apply, and then got his boss to give him nearly $100,000 in taxpayer dollars to fund his tuition at a graduate school program, officials acknowledged Friday, sending shockwaves through an agency already embroiled in a no-bid contract scandal.

And records obtained by the Houston Chronicle show that the personnel issues may stretch even further than the state has indicated.

The former aide, Casey Haney, worked in the Legislature for then-state Sen. Kyle Janek and then-state Rep. Jack Stick before being hired by them in 2012 as the commission's $159,000-a-year deputy chief of staff. The academic reimbursement came months later, a $97,000 gift for him to pursue a Master of Business Administration degree.

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Jobs that are open to external candidates are supposed to be posted online, and tuition payments are supposed to be awarded upon completion of courses, according to agency policy.

Haney has agreed to return half the money, as has another former Janek aide, Patricia Vojack, who in 2013 won a $165,000-a-year job and $37,000 up-front tuition payment for an executive master's degree, the commission acknowledged to the Chronicle and Texas Tribune.

Personnel records released earlier this week show that other friends, family members and former co-workers have enjoyed perks that violated policy, and possibly state law, in the three years since Janek was named by Gov. Rick Perry to lead the Health and Human Services Commission and Stick was hired to help.

Those who have won jobs and raises include Haney's partner, Kevin Vermillion, who was hired to work in Stick's division last summer; Stick's brother, Jeremy Stick, who was hired as an employee retention specialist last spring; Sheila Benavides, a former co-worker of Jack Stick's who was hired as an agency accountant in 2012; and Cody Cazares, the chief of staff to Stick, who saw his salary more than double to $112,000 in 28 months.

"Wow," said state Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, a McAllen Democrat who serves on the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. "All of this is obviously completely improper. … It looks like there were a lot of sweetheart deals going on."

Agency spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman, who provided the personnel records and acknowledged the unposted jobs and up-front tuition payments were improper, did not respond to requests for follow-up information.

Goodman previously had said that relatives working together is inevitable in an agency with 58,000 employees and an annual budget of $33 billion.

The personnel revelations were the latest blow to an agency that has suffered several during the past month.

It began when Janek announced Dec. 12 - amid questions from the Chronicle and the Austin American-Stateman - that he had canceled a deal with Austin technology company 21CT for a Medicaid fraud detection system that was set to cost as much as $110 million. Despite its size, the project was put through a no-bid state contracting program designed for much smaller purchases.

Stick, who used to be in business with a 21CT lobbyist and spearheaded the deal in 2012 while serving as the agency's deputy inspector general, resigned that day. His old boss, Inspector General Doug Wilson, lasted another week before stepping down himself.

The Travis County District Attorney's Office announced it was opening a criminal investigation, and three employees were put on leave - Cazares; Wilson's wife, Frianita Wilson, who worked in contracting at the agency; and Jack Stick's wife, Erica Stick, who served as Janek's chief of staff.

Jack Stick's salary was $200,000, while his wife's was about $160,000.

It was Erica Stick who supervised Casey Haney and signed off on his request for the prepaid tuition, according to the state.

Haney had worked for Jack Stick when the latter served as a Republican state representative from Austin between 2003 and 2004. Haney then jumped to Janek's office, where he rose to chief of staff in 2008 before departing for a job advising Perry.

He was hired to be the agency's deputy chief of staff in August 2012 - around the same time Janek took over the agency and about a year after Stick became deputy inspector general. There was no formal application process because officials thought Haney was well qualified for the job, spokeswoman Goodman said.

The request for academic reimbursement was submitted in March 2013, and it enabled him to attend the University of Texas, Goodman said.

It is unclear when Vojack's request was submitted or if her job was posted. She was hired as associate commissioner in the fall of 2013 and later promoted to a deputy commissioner job with a $165,000 yearly salary, state records show.

Goodman said the agency authorizes tuition payments for an average of three to five employees a year.

It was also unclear Friday whether the jobs of Vermillion, Jeremy Stick and Benavides were posted as required.

Changing salaries

Vermillion was hired last summer as a program specialist in the agency's legal department, assisting Stick, who around the same time became the agency's top lawyer. Jeremy Stick was hired last spring.

Benavides was hired in the spring of 2012 as an accountant, making $54,000 per year, records show. She previously had worked with Stick at an Austin engineering firm called Volver International - the company Stick helped run with James Frinzi, who later would become a lobbyist for 21CT.

Cazares, a former aide to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst between 2005 and 2010, was hired in late 2011 to be Stick's chief of staff when he still was deputy inspector general. The initial salary was $52,000, but it was raised to $75,000 in June 2012.

Cazares got another raise when he followed Stick to the office of the general counsel, and his salary peaked at $112,000 last September.

On Jan. 1, his annual pay abruptly was cut to $55,000.

"The former chief counsel requested the salary and classification for his chief of staff," agency spokeswoman Linda Edwards Gockel said in a statement. "After the chief counsel resigned last month, we reviewed the actual duties and responsibilities of the position and determined it should have a lower classification and salary."